HEALTH Law
THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE of the Law School’s program in health law is its
collaboration with the University’s School of Medicine and its Medical Center,
which is consistently ranked among the nation’s top hospitals.
At Virginia, law students can study health law in the clinical setting, interacting with
medical students and physicians from all medical specialties, including pediatrics,
neurology, internal medicine (infectious disease and geriatrics) and psychiatry.
Law faculty teach in the School of Medicine and Medical School professors teach
Law School classes. This collaboration extends to health policy experts in the
Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, the Darden School of Business, and
the Schools of Architecture, Arts & Sciences, Engineering and Nursing.
Students benefit from viewing the regulatory context through the eyes of physicians,
inventors, health care administrators and experts from a variety of fields.
THIS INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH is further borne out through institutes and centers at UVA that allow students to
study and work on pressing issues in health care, biotechnology, research, genetics and moral philosophy:
INSTITUTE OF LAW, PSYCHIATRY AND PUBLIC POLICY
VIRGINIA CENTER FOR TRANSLATIONAL AND REGULATORY SCIENCES
INSTITUTE FOR PRACTICAL ETHICS AND PUBLIC LIFE
CENTER FOR BIOMEDICAL ETHICS
CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY
Two Virginia law professors have
CENTER FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
been elected to the NATIONAL
ACADEMY OF MEDICINE.
PROFESSOR RICHARD BONNIE
[right] has chaired 10 studies
for the National Academies,
ranging from tobacco policy to
elder mistreatment.
Bonnie, the director of the
INSTITUTE OF LAW, PSYCHIATRY
AND PUBLIC POLICY, also leads
a statewide commission charged
with overhauling Virginia’s
mental health laws.
PROFESSOR JOHN MONAHAN has
directed two research networks on
mental health law for the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
J.D.-M.P.H.
(PUBLIC HEALTH)
PROGRAM
In conjunction with the
Department of Public Health
Sciences at the School of
Medicine, the Law School
offers a dual degree in public
health through a program
directed by Professors Ruth
Gaare Bernheim and Richard
Bonnie. Students have access
to graduate courses in health
policy and management, health
economics, ethics, global
health, social and behavioral
health, environmental health
and research methodology. Instituted in 2003, the
M.P.H. program offers
concentrations in generalist
practice and research, health
policy, and law and ethics,
and includes field placement
options in global health, health
policy and public health sites.
The program takes four
years to complete and requires
a minimum of 116 credits.
UVA Law graduates
are working in all sectors of
health care, including law firms,
industry and government. WILLIAM B. SCHULTZ ’74
[left] is the general counsel of
the U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES and
MICHAEL R. TAYLOR ’76 is
deputy commissioner for
foods at the FOOD AND DRUG
ADMINISTRATION.
J.D.-M.D. PROGRAM
Designed to educate the next
generation of health leaders,
the J.D.-M.D. program allows
students to complete law
and medical degrees in six
years, instead of the seven
years normally required if
the degrees were pursued
separately. Students spend
the first three years and the
summer of year five in classes
at the School of Medicine,
and years four and five at the
Law School. In the final year,
one semester is spent in each
school. Students are required
to secure admission separately
to the School of Medicine and
UVA Law.
CLINIC
Students in the yearlong
Health Law Clinic help
COURSES
AND SEMINARS
Advance Directives in Health
Care: Innovation and
Impediments
Age of Majority
Aging and the Law
Bioethics and the Law
Changing Practice of Medicine
Drug Product Liability Litigation:
Principles and Practice
Food and Drug Law
Genetics and the Law
Germs, Guns and Lead: Public
Health Law and Policy
Global Health Law and Policy
Health Care Marketplace:
Competition, Regulation, and
Reform
Health Law Survey
Israeli Health Law and Bioethics
Law and Business Management
PROFESSOR
MARGARET
FOSTER RILEY,
who teaches
courses in health
law and animal
law, has written
articles on topics
such as the ethics
of cloning and
personalized
medicine.
represent mentally ill and
elderly clients in negotiations,
administrative hearings and
court proceedings. The legal
matters may involve civil rights,
mental health care in jails and
prisons, disability benefits
claims, access to health or
rehabilitative services, creating
wills and other testamentary
documents, and advance
directives.
FELLOWSHIPS
AND EXTERNSHIPS
in the Health Care Sector
Law and Ethics of Human
Subject Research
Law of Body Parts
Law of Reproduction
Legal and Moral Reasoning in
Public Policy
Medical Malpractice and Health
Care Quality
Mental Health Law
New Frontiers in Clinical Ethics
and Health Law
Psychiatry and Criminal Law
Reproductive Ethics and Law
Students may apply for funding
from the Law School’s health
law fellowship program to
work in a variety of settings.
Students have worked for
employers such as the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention’s Public Health Law
Program and the Food and
Drug Administration.
CLINICS
Health Law Clinic
These courses represent the
2012-15 school years. Not all courses
are offered every year.
Five UVA HEALTH
SYSTEM specialties
were recognized by
U.S. NEWS in 2015.
FACULTY
UVA HAS LEADING SCHOLARS IN THE FIELDS OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BIOETHICS AND HEALTH LAW.
Professor James
Childress, a noted
bioethicist, is
co-director of the
Institute for Practice
Ethics and Public
Life. Lois Shepherd,
the author of “If
That Ever Happens
to Me: Making Life
and Death Decisions
after Terri Schiavo,”
teaches bioethics and
reproductive ethics at
the Law School.
Childress and
Professors
Richard Bonnie
and Ruth Gaare
Bernheim have coauthored casebooks
on public health law
and ethics. A wide
range of professors
and doctors teach
courses in the
program or on related
subjects.
SCHOOL
OF LAW
MARGO BAGLEY
biotechnology
RICHARD J. BONNIE
mental health law,
health law, aging and
the law, bioethics,
public health law
DOUGLAS LESLIE
health law and policy
DEBORAH HELLMAN
bioethics
JULIA MAHONEY
reproductive
technologies
GREGORY MITCHELL
law and psychology
JOHN MONAHAN
mental health law
MARGARET FOSTER
RILEY bioethics, bio-
technology, food and
drug law, health law
GIL SIEGAL health
law, bioethics
THOMAS R. WHITE III
aging and the law
SCHOOL
OF MEDICINE
AND UVA
M. NORMAN OLIVER
RUTH GAARE
EILEEN RYAN
psychiatry
family medicine
genetics
The Sadie Lewis
Webb Visiting
Professorship brings
to the Law School
eminent scholars such
as ALBERT R. JONSEN,
professor emeritus
of the University
of Washington,
JANET WARREN
TIMOTHY S. JOST
BERNHEIM public
psychiatry
health, bioethics
LOIS SHEPHERD
DONNA CHEN
psychiatry and
bioethics
JAMES CHILDRESS
bioethics
BRUCE COHEN
psychiatry
DEWEY CORNELL
psychology
disability law, health law and
bioethics
LAWRENCE SILVERMAN
psychiatry
ANDREW C. WICKS
business ethics
REBECCA DILLINGHAM
health policy
BATTEN
SCHOOL
AND UVA
RICHARD L. GUERRANT
RANDALL LUTTER
global health
CAROLYN ENGELHARD
infectious diseases
THOMAS MASSARO
pediatrics, health law
and policy
ROBERT J. MEYER
food and drug law,
regulatory science
DANIEL MURRIE
VISITING
FACULTY
economics, regulation
ERIC PATASHNIK
politics, health policy
CHRISTOPHER RUHM
economics, health
policy
RAYMOND SCHEPPACH
politics, health policy
from Washington
and Lee University,
and R. ALTA CHARO
from the University
of Wisconsin law and
medical schools.
HEALTH LAW
www.law.virginia.edu/health
Professor Richard Bonnie
(434) 924-4764
rbonnie@virginia.edu
Professor Ruth Gaare Bernheim
(434) 243-7340
rg3r@virginia.edu
Professor Margaret Foster Riley
(434) 924-4671
mf9c@virginia.edu